Bios Password?

[CliffC]

Some idiot bios password protected his Thinkpad and then left the company, IBM says send it to them and for a fee they'll unlock it.
The company says screw that just throw it away. It's a PIII and I'd like to save it, so does anyone know how I can clear the password and save the company big bucks?
Thanks for any help!

 

[loosbrew]

maybe trip the cmos??
thats what i would try! btw..if they want to throw it out ill take it

loooo

 

[Fumiup]

Try and remove the clock/bios battery inside and make sure it's unplugged. Then insert the battery and boot up.

 

[compuwiz1]

Clear CMOS.

 

[Degenerate]

Pull out the little button battery underneath the main battery. Try and see if that works

 

[ax57]

Updated

You might also try these old backdoor passwords.

For Award BIOS:
AWARD_SW
j262
d8on
589589
shift+s y x z

For AMI BIOS:
AMI_SW
AMI!SW/
AMI?SW/

All of those are case sensitive.

If you cleared the CMOS by resetting a jumper, the BIOS might revert to
a factory default password. Some of these are:
AMI
Award
Phoenix
bios
setup
cmos

ax57

 

[MrCraphead]

whoa, there are backdoor paswords to BIOS's?!? *pulls out pen and paper* I'd better take note of this...

 

[WildDreamer]

This has some info on password recovery for IBM Thinkpads:

CmosPwd readme

 

[ax57]

...oops

 

[CliffC]

Hey guys thanks to all for the help. I'll try some of this on Monday and let you know how it goes.